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After six days of interruption due to the violence surrounding the quota movement and a curfew imposed to curb the violence, the garments sector – Bangladesh’s largest export industry – has resumed operations.
Leaders from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturing and Exporters Association, an association of factory owners, met with Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Tuesday night before deciding to open factories.
It was decided at the meeting that workers, mid-level management, and management officials in the sector can use their factory IDs as passes during the ongoing curfew on Wednesday, as per bdnews24.com reports.
The government imposed a curfew from midnight on Friday amid widespread and intense violence surrounding the quota protests. Factories were closed amid the unrest.
On Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met with exporters and called on them to reopen factories. The green light for factory reopenings came on Tuesday after owners met with the home minister.
BGMEA President SM Mannan, members of the BGMEA board, BKMEA leaders and other leaders in the garment sector took part in the meeting with the home minister.
During the meeting, Home Minister Khan thanked the businessmen for helping to protect the people and property while maintaining law and order, the BGMEA said in a statement.
The home minister also ordered law enforcers and all related government offices to do all they could to ensure that garment factories can resume production starting Wednesday, the BGMEA said.